Edwaed pfaebe



- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD PFARRE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

BOUGIE.

SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters Patent N0. 229,633, dated. July 6,1880. Application filed May 3, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD PFARRE, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kingsand State of New York, have invented an Improvement in SurgicalInstruments, oi' which the following is a specification.

This improvement relates to the surgical instrument usually known as abougie for the purpose of exploring and curing strictures in theurethra, esophagus, anus, &c.

Rigid bougies have commonly been made of metal, whalebone, catgut, &c.Partially elastic bougies have also been made of webbing covered with'varnish and other materials commonly styled gum-elastic.7

I have invented an improvement in bougies, combining strength andelasticity, and allowing for curvatures being made in such instrument.

I make the bougie of india-rubber, of the proper shape, and of the sizerequired for each particular purpose, and a wire is introduced a part ofthe length of the instrument. This makes it stili' for handling, leavingthe point ofthe bougie elastic and pliable, in order that it may followeasily in the tortuous ways of a diseased natural passage in the humanor animal body. The bougie may also be shaped by bending the same tosuit the requirements of the surgeon, and the wire retains the same inthe bent shape. The wire may be of copper, silver, iron, whalebone, orany other suitable material. If whalebone is used, it requires to beheated before it is bent to any particular shape.

These instruments are manufactured by taking sheet india-rubber,prepared in the usual way with sulphur or other material, and rolling itaround the wire and securing it in a mold and curing by the action ofheat in a closed vessel into which steam is admitted, the process beingthe usual way of curing rubber.

In the drawings I have shown the instrument by a longitudinal section,Figure 1, and cross-section, Fig. 2, the wire a being within the rubberportion b, and the point c being iiexible.

I am aware that hollow instruments have been made into which a movablewire is inserted; but the same not adhering to the wire, the coveringbecomes detached and cannot be held in place by the wire when operatingupon the patient.

I claim as my invention- The combination, in the bougie, of a wire orstiftening-core extending part of the Way along the instrument, and aliexible body composing the bougie, and having the iiexible pointextending beyond the stiiening-core, as and for the purposes set forth.

Signed by me this 30th day of April, A. D. 1880.

GEO. T. PINCKNEY, WILLIAM G. MoT'r.

